Uber, newly-approved by the Legislature and Gov. Bill Walker to operate in Alaska, has told Juneau officials that it will not be paying sales tax for ride services. Uber told the city the drivers have responsibility to pay sales tax but city officials said that is impractical because money is actually transferred to Uber directly. If this holds up it will leave legislators who championed the company looking a little red-faced. Sen. Mia Costello made a big point of Uber’s sales tax revenue contribution in her Senate floor speech in favor of the bill. Traditional taxicabs do pay sales taxes in Juneau, to the tune of about $100,000 last year.

The Uber legislation was pushed in the Senate by Costello and Sen. Anna MacKinnon, cochair of the Senate Finance Committee. Its prime sponsor in the House was Rep. Adam Wool of Fairbanks. Municipalities fought the legislation hard because of weak language in the bill (and now the law) on regulation of the ride-sharing service.